Wigan Athletic are becoming as synonymous with Wembley as the town's rugby team, who practically owned the venue as well as the Challenge Cup in the 80s and 90s. Back by virtue of a stunning quarter-final win at Manchester City to contest the first of this season's FA Cup semi-finals, the holders are making their fourth Wembley appearance within a year whereas their opponents have been to the new stadium only twice and lost on both occasions.

"I think Arsenal need to win this game," Wigan's Jordi Gómez says with a hint of mischief in his smile. "They are the ones under all the pressure. They are the big team, although we have won more trophies in the last 10 years than they have. We are going to be there to enjoy the day, there is no need to be panicking or whatever. It's just another game, we are not even all that excited about it. That is more for the fans than the players. We would like to win, and we can win, but we don't need to win. There is far less pressure on us."

One of the reasons Wigan's Spanish midfielder is so keen to enjoy his latest Wembley day out is because last year's FA Cup celebrations were so severely curtailed by relegation a matter of days later. At Arsenal. "We had all the highs and lows of football in the space of four days," he explains. "We won the final on the Saturday and played at Arsenal on the Tuesday. There was no drinking or partying on the coach back to Wigan from Wembley. We had ham sandwiches and water, that was it. But for me it was OK. Water is nice. And we had won the FA Cup."

Few imagined Wigan would make such a doughty defence of the trophy, especially as Roberto Martínez had moved on to Everton, yet despite a false start to the season under Owen Coyle it has been onwards and upwards since the arrival of Uwe Rösler. Not only have three Premier League sides been dispatched already in the FA Cup, but Wigan have moved back towards the top of the Championship and remain on course for a play-off place.

"We are in a good position now," Gómez says. "The new manager has improved our discipline and we are physically stronger as well. There is more organisation on the pitch, we work hard in training but the results are good, so everyone enjoys it. With our Europa League fixtures at the start of the season we have probably played more games than anyone else but there is a big squad here with a lot of quality. Anyone can come in and do a good job for the team, I feel we are growing stronger rather than becoming tired."

Gómez is philosophical about the change of managers, despite the fact that it was Martínez who introduced him to England and worked with him at Swansea and Wigan.

"I owe Roberto a lot, but I didn't worry when he left," he says. "It is good to work with other managers, to prove yourself all over again. All managers have different ideas about the way things should be done so you get to experience new things. The Wigan manager now is doing a great job and I enjoy working with him, but I still follow Roberto's career. It's great to see him doing so well at Everton.

"I think he is one of the best managers around and soon he will be one of the best in world football. He could do a job like Real Madrid or Barcelona no problem, it would not surprise me at all were he to end up in charge of one of the really big teams."

Now 28, Gómez began with Barcelona's C and B teams before moving to Espanyol, where he had played only three first-team games when Swansea took him on a season-long loan.

He duly returned to Espanyol and would probably have stayed in Spain but for Martínez moving to Wigan, where the funds were available to secure a permanent transfer for a fee in the region of £1.7m.

It is fair to say Gómez was not an immediate success in Lancashire. It took a while for Wigan supporters to appreciate why their manager placed such confidence in him, but having made the transition and scored a few important goals – Gómez was on the scoresheet in last season's quarter-final at Everton as well as breaking the deadlock with a penalty this year at Manchester City – he is more than happy with his career in England.

"I played in the Barcelona youth teams with Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué, so everyone seems to believe I must be disappointed to find myself at Wigan," he says. "I don't look at it quite like that. I am happy to have a career in football. At Barcelona there are a lot of players who come through the youth team and don't make it in the game. Most of them, you could say. I'm glad to be where I am. I've played in the Premier League, I've won the FA Cup, I enjoy what I am doing.

"It is very difficult to break into the first team at Barcelona and other teams at the very top. It is good to start out at Barcelona but it doesn't guarantee you a career in football. Even with Messi, although you could see he was very good, you never knew for certain that he would make it. You never can tell. You certainly couldn't have predicted at that stage that he would go on to become the best player in the world."

Gómez relaxes with yoga, both at the club and at home in Manchester, and rates peace of mind as the most important factor in bringing the best out of himself on the pitch. "If you are disciplined in yoga you are disciplined in football, your life, everything," he says. "It makes you stronger both mentally and physically, look at Ryan Giggs. People laugh about yoga, but they don't know anything about it. Peace of mind is key for life. I have it, but I want more."

He may well do, though Gómez seems relaxed enough. Championship players are supposed to be a little nervous about the prospect of facing a Champions League side at Wembley, but Gómez just jokes about the expense of bringing his family over from Spain – "again!" – and looks forward to getting out on the famous turf. "We had the belief to beat Manchester City last month," he says. "We beat them the previous season and we knew we could do it again. That's the confidence we have in the team. We go into every game thinking we can win, and of course that includes Arsenal, because we would all like to go to the final again."